From This Day Forward (Song of Blessing Book #4)

Lauraine Snelling

Oct 2016 · Song of Blessing Book 4 · Baker Books

About this ebook

Revisit Old Friends in Blessing in This Heartwarming Series Conclusion

Deborah MacCallister, head nurse at the Blessing hospital, has loved Toby Valders since her school days, but she's had enough of their on-again, off-again relationship. Toby truly cares for Deborah, but he's never felt like he could commit to marriage or a family.

When Anton Genddarm, the new schoolteacher, comes to town, the young women of Blessing see a chance to force Toby's hand with a little strategic matchmaking. But real sparks fly between Deborah and Anton, and she finds herself in an even more complicated situation. The attention she gets from Anton makes Toby do some serious soul-searching, but is it too late?

Then Deborah receives an invitation to study the latest advances in nursing at a hospital in Chicago, and she faces a hard choice. To leave or stay? Should she give up on the dream of Toby and accept the interest of Anton?

Ratings and reviews

From This Day Forward by Lauraine Snelling is the conclusion to Song of Blessing series. Deborah MacCallister is the head nurse at the hospital in Blessing, North Dakota. Deborah also handles many of the administrative tasks. Deborah is helping Anji and Thomas Devlin to get ready for their wedding and she wonders if she will ever get married. Deborah is twenty-five and has been in love with Toby Valders since they were in school. But Deborah is not sure that Toby reciprocates her feelings. The town is growing by leaps and bounds. The only problem is lack of help. They need more workers to help with the construction. The high school needs a new teacher and Jonathon recommends his cousin, Anton Gendarme. Anton is a handsome fellow and the ladies in town decide to fix him up with Deborah. They go out of their way to push the two of them together. Deborah enjoys Anton’s company, but her heart belongs to Toby. Toby is extremely busy with the new building projects and only has time to sleep. Deborah decides to help him out by leaving him food and doing his laundry. Toby starts leaving little notes for Deborah (its progress). Then Deborah leaves town for some long overdue training. Will Toby realize that his future belongs with Deborah? Read From This Day Forward to see how Ingeborg Bjorklund, her family, and friends are faring in Blessing. From This Day Forward had a slower pace than the other novels in the series. It is mostly about the daily lives of the Bjorklund family and friends in Blessing. We get to see how everyone is faring in Blessing and get a nice conclusion to the series. The book was just not as special as Lauraine Snelling’s other novels (she can do so much better). It is hard to pinpoint but something was missing. The book is well-written, but I found the book to be predictable. I give From This Day Forward 3 out of 5 stars. I thought too much time was devoted to Deborah thinking about Toby, her life, what was Toby thinking, is Anton the right guy for her, Toby versus Anton, etc. I wanted to shake Deborah and tell her to grow up (put on her big girl panties and go talk to Toby). There is also quite a bit of time devoted to prayer (several times each chapter). Prayer is wonderful and essential in life (my personal feelings), but it seemed more like filler in the book. The novel was longer than it needed to be. I felt is needed some editing and it would have made it a better book. From This Day Forward is not a stand-alone novel. If you try to read this book without having enjoyed the other novels in the series, you will be lost. You would also need to read more than the book in the Song of Blessing series. You would need to go back to the very beginning to the Red River of the North series (which is wonderfully written and heartwarming).

This is book four in the Song of Blessing series, it can be read as a stand alone book, however I feel you will be a bit lost. There are a lot of characters in this book and it can get a little confusing if you do not know the history of their families and can keep them all straight. The entire series is a great series so I would recommend reading them all in order. Lauraine Snelling does a great job at weaving so many different families, story lines and history all wrapped in one series. Each character has issues of their own they must deal with the consequences of choices they make. If you have read the entire series it is great to catch up with many of the characters from previous novels. The main focus of this novel is Deborah and Toby. Deborah has loved him forever, yet is it time to move on. Toby is a little harder to figure out, it was fun to watch him struggle, grow and decide what it is he actually wants. I was given a copy of this novel from net galley for my honest opinion.

About the author

Lauraine Snelling is the award-winning author of over 70 books, fiction and nonfiction, for adults and young adults. Her books have sold over two million copies. Besides writing books and articles, she teaches at writers' conferences across the country. She and her husband make their home in Tehachapi, California. Learn more at www.laurainesnelling.com.